hiya Tessa :)

i am soooooo delighted to hear of your son's success and hope he gets the college of his choice:p

wonderful too that he is going on that trip abroad.........

you deserve much credit for his success Tessa! so here is that heart for you :Heart:

Yes, Tessa. They're excellent. Pricey though. My daughter is 17. 18 in Feb..

Daughter actually went out a couple of days ago and bought companion CDs that go with the books. They're helping with the language aspect. They're pretty basic from what I heard, but that would still help I'm sure. I noticed a few errors in things like gender for the French one but it was a very long time ago that I studied French, so am thinking that maybe I always had it wrong all these years. No wonder nobody could understand what I was talking about. ;)
Congratulations to your son and to you as well! I know exactly how you must feel.

[Next year will start for me in 16 hours and 57 minutes ;) ]

Hope you all have a happy and peaceful new year also.

Happy New Year Lara,
 

And everyone!

Tessa that is such good news. I totally understand! We were there too.
And Yes, suddenly they are all grown up!;)

Today it was announced that Alexander McCall Smith was knighted by
Queen Elizabeth!
http://football.guardian.co.uk/break...310244,00.html
**more incentive to read his books!**** ;)

Happy New Year Everyone!
http://bestsmileys.com/fireworks/1.gifhttp://bestsmileys.com/fireworks/5.gif

just ordered the series with a gift card I had been given mrsD :D

looking forward to reading them

Happy New Year to you tooooo

http://bestsmileys.com/party/5.gif

Well thank you all for your support, information and kind words!!!!

We didn't do any early decisions so it'll be awhile before we know about college but I'll let you know!

I'll let my boys know about Hugh Laurie.....they love "House". I loved him in "Jeeves and Wooster".

Spending my New Years Day watching football (an acquired hobby), writing notes to friends and cooking a bit. :) Quite rainy here today!!

Happy 2007 to you all!!! :D :D :D

Take care,
Tessa

I'm loving "The Shadow of the Wind"!
Have a few going at the same time here, but might concentrate on that one alone.

Another more on-topic book that I loved was Amy Wilensky's "Passing for Normal - a memoir of compulsion". Great book.

I also loved "Icy Sparks" by Gwyn Hyman Rubio. It's fiction. I know many people didn't like it, but I really related to it in a lot of ways. I met the author too when I was in Seattle. That was really great. The only real problem I had with the book was about 3/4 (or more) of the way though it, it seemed to totally change tack and headed off in another direction. It was as if she lost momentum or spent a lot of time away from her writing. No idea.

Gosh, 4 people out there reading this forum as I type this.

That must be a record!!! :D

OK

mrsD, we have The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series and my husband got first dabs on it:D .........while I have just strted the first in a 2 part historical novel series by Edward Rutherford "The Princes of Ireland" .......I have enjoyed past books by Rutherford (Sarum, London, The Forest, Russka) and am relishing this one as I have always wanted to learn more about ancient Irish history...and Rutherford's masterful interweaving of fiction into the backdrop is something I really appreciate

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also.......I have been meaning to mention an ON TOPIC book here as well.....
an excellent book by Sheila Rogers called Tics and Tourettes: Breakthough Discoveries in Natural Treatments
http://www.latitudes.org/book.html

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Happy reading:)

going to the library today...
 

to check these suggestions out!

Thanks everyone! :D

P.S. I just finished the newest novel by Tony Hillerman --Shapeshifter.
He writes about Navajo and other Native American peoples, in the modern
day, with a mystery to boot. The detectives, Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn,
always manage to get the problem solved, using basic logic and other skills.
I find him very satisifying to read.

book update:
 

Well, I went to the library...

Got the Shadow of the Wind and The Forest for my husband to start with,
(I shall read later)

I found Blue Shoes and Happiness (the most recent No.1 Ladies Det.Agency book) and his first Ladies Philosophy club (new series)

Also the first 2 Deborah Crombie books,
and the new Eliz George one. (which has horrible reviews on Amazon, and I may not get far with it..who knows?).

These should keep both of us busy for a while! It is so cold and icy here,
I don't even want to go out!